LEE WOODALL

There's a very real sense of fear in the room. San Francisco49ers linebacker Lee Woodall, who is a dead ringer for formerheavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield, has just finishedgiving an extremely detailed description of the knockout punchhe dreams of landing on a poor, unsuspecting running back oneday. The running back, Woodall has said, won't just be forced toleave the game for one or two plays; he'll be knocked out. Cold.

What with with the eerie resemblance to the ex-champ and thevivid image of this hit, it's a really bad time to discover thatyour tape recorder isn't working.

Uh, excuse me, but, Lee, Mr. Woodall, sir? Any chance we couldgo over that again? What part? Um, well, how about...all of it?Woodall blinks. He breathes. He blinks. Finally, he smiles."OK., O.K.," he says easily. "We'll do it again." The 6-foot,220-pound Woodall is menacing, but only when it comes tofootball. And if there's one attribute he thoroughlyappreciates, it's perseverance in the face of long odds.

The 49ers selected the little-known Woodall in the sixth roundof the 1994 draft, the 182nd player taken overall. San Franciscohad him pegged as a special teams player, maybe a nickelback. Atbest, a long shot; at worst, a throwaway. But as far as Woodallwas concerned, he was a lock. "Every day for five years, I toldmyself I would make it," he says. "All I needed was a chance, nomatter how small. Being in the NFL was my destiny." Though theydidn't know it when they drafted him, the Niners had caught aflier.

"When he came off the practice field after the first minicamp,you could just see," recalls coach George Seifert. "He was sofocused, it was like he had blinders on. 'Holy mackerel, thisguy is good,' we said. 'Screw it, he's our starting outsidelinebacker.' That's what we did, and look how everything hasworked." As a rookie, Woodall started 15 games and finishedsixth on the team in tackles, with 64. Last year he finishedfourth in tackles (77) and was voted to the Pro Bowl.

Whatever you call it, perseverance or focus, San Francisco haddiscovered Woodall's defining quality, the trait that signaledthat the NFL was his destiny, the characteristic that propelledhim from Division II West Chester to the 49ers' starting lineupto the Pro Bowl in a span of two years. It's a feature of hispersonality that his family knows all too well.

"When Lee was little, about 13 years old, he had to lose weightto be able to play pony league," recalls his father, theReverend Robert Woodall. "So one day he says he's not going toeat. Nothing. Well--and I don't like to think about it now,because his daddy wasn't exactly encouraging him in hisefforts--I decided to tempt Lee. We were out as a family, Lee'sthree older brothers, his older sister and his mother. I musthave stopped at every food place I could find. 'Lee, would youlike something to eat?' 'Nah, nothin' for me,' he'd say. 'Mmm,this sure is good. Lee, you want some?' I kept at it, but hedidn't eat, and he made weight. Even as a boy, Lee had focus."

That focus sustained Woodall in high school in Carlisle, Pa.,after both Penn State and Syracuse decided they weren'tinterested in recruiting him, concerned that, at 185 pounds, hewasn't big enough to play linebacker at a major college. Therewas also some question as to whether Woodall could cut itacademically at a big school. Whatever the case, it didn'tmatter to him. "It didn't really bother me all that much whenthey backed off," Woodall says. "I probably would have justgotten lost in the shuffle at those schools." Instead, in 1989he enrolled at West Chester, a school 15 miles outsidePhiladelphia, about 90 minutes from his home.

In retrospect, what took place that year away from home was thebest thing that could have happened to Woodall. As a freshman,he saw action in 11 games, making 39 tackles for the GoldenRams. But because he thought school was "a joke," he says, hestopped going to class. He flunked out of school in May 1990.

For Woodall, this turn of events provided some much-neededclarity. "I spent part of the next year packing boxes in the IBMwarehouse in Mechanicsburg [Pa.]," he says. "That was a realitycheck for me. I realized I needed to rededicate myself." In thesummer of 1991 that message was underscored by WashingtonAll-Pro cornerback Darrell Green, who occasionally attended theelder Woodall's church when the Redskins came to training campin Carlisle. "I told Lee that he hadn't given himself a chance,that he needed to take the roads made available to him, likeschool," says Green. Woodall took Green's advice to heart. Hedecided to reapply to school and returned to West Chester inthe fall of 1991.

In each of the next three seasons he led the Rams in tackles andeach year was named team MVP. As a junior, in 1992, he was nameda Division II All-America. "I listened to Darrell," he says. "Itturned me around, and it happened for me."

Despite his college accomplishments, in the months before the1994 draft Woodall once again heard complaints about his size.Teams also wondered how he would fare against major-collegecompetition. Although he worked out for more than 10 teams,Woodall knew he might not be drafted. Then, in early January, a49ers scout shared a flight with a fellow bird dog who had justattended the Snow Bowl, the annual Division II All-Star Game inFargo, N.Dak. When the San Francisco scout asked whether anyplayer had stood out on the field, his aisle mate tabbedWoodall. Destiny, indeed.

At the age of 26, Woodall has made good on his promise tohimself. A less-focused person might now survey his achievementsand relax a bit. Not Woodall. Last April he signed up forclasses at Cal State-Hayward to continue working toward hisdegree in physical therapy (he's six classes short). Now that hehas made the Pro Bowl, he has the defensive player of the yearaward in his sights. And he's still looking to unload that big,crushing hit. One way or another, he's destined to have impact.

--Stephen Thomas

COLOR PHOTO: OTTO GREULE/ALLSPORT With dreams of a knockout blow, Woodall has the look of another heavyweight hitter. [Lee Woodall]COLOR PHOTO: PETER READ MILLER Despite his small-school roots, linebacker Woodall has made a big impression on Niners opponents in just two seasons. [Lee Woodall in game]